Experimental Research on Retirement Decision-Making: Evidence from Reproductions

Kremena Bachmann, Andre Lot, Xiaogeng Xu and Thorsten Hens
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Kremena Bachmann: University of Zurich - Department of Banking and Finance; Zurich University of Applied Sciences
Xiaogeng Xu: Hanken School of Economics
Thorsten Hens: University of Zurich - Department of Banking and Finance; Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration (NHH); Swiss Finance Institute

No 22-72, Swiss Finance Institute Research Paper Series from Swiss Finance Institute

Abstract: We adapt the design of five experimental studies on retirement decision-making and conduct reproductions with a larger sample from the broader population. We reproduce most of the main effects of the original studies. In particular, we find that consumption decisions are less efficient when subjects need to borrow from the future than save from the present. When subjects collect retirement benefits as lump-sum instead of annuities, they choose to retire later. The duration of retirement affects the saving behavior of the subjects. Savings are higher when they are incentivized with matching contributions than with tax rebates. When faced with stochastic survival risk, subjects make partial adjustments to spending paths. We also propose a further experimental research agenda in related topics and discuss practical issues on subject recruitment, attrition, and redesign of complex tasks.

Keywords: household finance; retirement decision; savings; annuities; life-cycle optimization; income smoothing; experiments; reproductions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C91 D15 G51 J26 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 53 pages
Date: 2022-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-age, nep-exp and nep-lma
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:chf:rpseri:rp2272

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